Hull cleaning technology demonstration by Fleet Cleaner at Vopak Europoort terminal
Fleet Cleaner announces a revolutionary ATEX certified setup to for hull cleaning. The first successful demonstration took place at the Vopak Europoort terminal in the Port of Rotterdam with the ATEX certified system which has been operating since the start of 2021.
Hull cleaning for petroleum tankers always poses an operational challenge. The underwater hull of tankers gets fouled, increasing fuel consumption by 5-10 percent. This results in off-hire time, either due to cleaning the vessel at anchorage or at buoys or dolphins in ports. For this reason, hull cleaning unsurprisingly leads to unwelcome and expensive downtime of the vessel.
The Fleet Cleaner novel hull cleaning robot solves this issue by using high pressure waterjets to remove biofouling from the ship’s hull – this is done by capturing the removed fouling and pumping into a containerised treatment system on board the support vessel. The operation is conducted without divers, and the robot is controlled from the support vessel.
Port authorities of Antwerp and Amsterdam have allowed these operations, and many petroleum terminals have followed in giving approval for these services. Fleet Cleaner is now continuously cleaning tankers at terminals. The company also offers complete hull inspections in the ARAG region, UWILDS and propeller polishing if required.
For more information visit www.fleetcleaner.com
24th June 2021
